Emma of Normandy

2 primary works

Shadow on the Crown

by Patricia Bracewell

Published 1 February 2013

Set in England when Vikings are on the brink of invasion, this is an epic tale of seduction, war, and unrequited love from an outstanding new voice in historical fiction

The year is 1001 and England is under threat. The air off the southern coast hangs heavy, thick with the fear of Viking sea raids.

For England's King AEthelred the night sky is heavy with a dark portent. England's future hangs in the balance, its path determined by a struggle for the King's own heart. Two women - Emma, his Norman bride and Elgiva, his Anglo Saxon mistress - will stop at nothing in their battle for the King's favour and the Queen's Coronet. But the sky speaks of a royal death and ahead of all three is a journey fraught with danger and deception.

The Price of Blood

by Patricia Bracewell

Published 5 February 2015

"Menaced by Vikings and enemies at court, Queen Emma defends her children and her crown in a riveting medieval adventure...Readers first met Emma of Normandy in Patricia Bracewell's gripping debut novel, Shadow on the Crown. Unwillingly thrust into marriage to England's King Ethelred, Emma has given the king a son and heir, but theirs has never been a happy marriage. In The Price of Blood, Bracewell returns to 1006 when a beleaguered Ethelred, still haunted by his brother's ghost, governs with an iron fist and a royal policy that embraces murder. As tensions escalate and enmities solidify, Emma forges alliances to protect her young son from ambitious men--even from the man she loves. In the north there is treachery brewing, and when Viking armies ravage England, loyalties are shattered and no one is safe from the sword"--